Thanks to all of you for the kinds words so far.
Just finished playing her again before leaving for work this am and was amazed all over again. Fuel for the soul to get me through the day!
Re: neck -
The optional flame maple neck is a standard Alembic 32 scale comfort taper with one ebony and two purple heart lams. Comfort taper is an accurate description - it fits my hand perfectly and is VERY comfortable to play.
I can hear the influence of the ebony when compared to my other two non-ebony Alembics. All other things being equal (amp, settings, cable, strings, etc.) the ebony does produce some additional clarity and presence that is missing from the non-ebony necks. Each note sounds very dense and focused - almost 3-dimensional. Sort of like the difference between using cheap instrument cable and more expensive hi-fi instrument cable with higher silver content. And, the effect is more (or less) pronounced relative to the precision (or lack thereof) of my playing technique.
Re: appearance -
The southwest vibe was intentional. I wanted to live in Arizona since I was 7 and finally moved here at 34. So it is my adopted home. The color scheme is a composite of the colors used on the Airplane's Crown of Creation album cover art and the desert sky at sunset. The cool turquoise and silver details contrast nicely with those rich warm colors and provide a little visual spark.
The retro vibe was also intentional. I asked Alembic to recreate the body shape of the iconic 72-01 as closely as possible. They got it dead on to my eye - but not as thick due to the space-saving improvements that have been made to the electronics over the last 40 years. 72-01 was thicker due to having to accommodate bulkier 70's era electronics.
Overall, COC is very sleek and organic - sort of an updated version of 72-01. As I mentioned in the Featured Custom remarks - although the photos are very nice, it must be seen (and felt) in person to truly appreciate the amount of care and attention to detail that went into creating the body contours (especially around the point).
It is this type of craftsmanship and vision that elevates Alembic beyond other companies that merely build fine custom instruments to customer spec.
Alembic is somehow able to translate the personality - the soul - of a custom-build concept into the finished piece and this difference places them in the realm of the artist.
